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Sableye/RSE
Sableye is only available in Sapphire and Emerald. It can be found in the Cave of Origin (all but the first room), Granite Cave (basement floors only), Sky Pillar (first, third, and fifth floors only), and Victory Road (bottom floor only). Sableye is an intriguing but unheralded Pokemon. In its debut games, it features prominently as the ace of Elite Four Phoebe's team, but that's about it. Nevertheless, it has several qualities that are of interest to Nuzlocke players, particularly the fact that it has no weaknesses in the third generation by virtue of its Dark/Ghost dual type. It can be caught fairly early on, which grants it some opportune moments in boss fights. However, it begins to fade fairly quickly after that point thanks to its lackluster stats and a plateauing of its movepool. It has utility in Nuzlockes, but does require the right support for its usefulness to be maximized. Important Matchups - Emerald = * Gym #2 - Brawly (Dewford Town, Fighting-type): His team literally cannot damage Sableye; all of their attacking moves are Fighting type. Just take care not to run out of PP and you're golden. * Rival (Route 110): * Wally (Mauville City): Sableye is a Dark type, which makes it immune to Ralts's only offensive move. It should also have Ghost STAB, which is super effective against Ralts. It's hard to imagine a better candidate for coasting through this battle. * Gym #3 - Wattson (Mauville City, Electric-type): Sableye is good for bomb disposal against Voltorb, being immune to Selfdestruct, but doesn't have all that much Special Defense to guard against Shock Wave from the rest of Wattson's team (to say nothing of its pitiful damage output). It's a useful asset in this battle, to be sure, but you should look to supplement it with something else for optimal results. * Tabitha (Mt. Chimney): * Maxie (Mt. Chimney): * Gym #4 - Flannery (Lavaridge Town, Fire-type): * Gym #5 - Norman (Petalburg City, Normal-type): Spinda and Linoone can't damage you outside of Spinda's Teeter Dance inflicting confusion, so feel free to grind out your free win against them. However, Vigoroth and Slaking can hurt you with Faint Attack (and Counter, I suppose, but there aren't many physical attacks available to Sableye that you'd want to use in this battle); while their Faint Attacks can't do better than a 3HKO, Sableye itself can't do better than a 5 or 6 hit KO in return. In short, prepare for a long battle and definitely bring a backup plan and/or healing items for Vigoroth and Slaking. * Shelly (Weather Institute): * Rival (Route 119): * Gym #6 - Winona (Fortree City, Flying-type): * Rival (Lilycove City): * Tabitha (Jagged Pass Hideout): * Maxie (Jagged Pass Hideout): * Matt (Lilycove Hideout): * Gym #7 - Tate and Liza (Mossdeep City, Psychic-type): Xatu and Lunatone cannot damage Sableye directly because their only attacking moves are Psychic type; you should, however, be cautious about Xatu's Confuse Ray. Solrock is only threatening if its SolarBeam turns critical unless you're stupendously unlucky with Special Defense IVs and/or a Special Defense decreasing Nature. Claydol, however, is cause for concern. Its Earthquake is a 2HKO against Sableye unless you have quite high HP and Defense IVs and/or a Defense increasing Nature. Its AncientPower is also dangerous because of the potential stat boosts. In any case, Shadow Ball is usually a 2HKO against all of the Leaders' Pokemon; Sableye's teammate must be able to help it 2HKO Claydol and Solrock the first turn they are on the field for its own safety, though. Accomplish that, and you're well on your way to victory. * Maxie and Tabitha (Mossdeep Space Center, tag battle with Steven): * Shelly (Seafloor Cavern): * Archie (Seafloor Cavern): * Gym #8 - Juan (Sootopolis City, Water-type): * Wally (Victory Road): * Elite Four Sidney (Ever Grande City, Dark-type): * Elite Four Phoebe (Ever Grande City, Ghost-type): * Elite Four Glacia (Ever Grande City, Ice-type): * Elite Four Drake (Ever Grande City, Dragon-type): * Champion Wallace (Ever Grande City, Water-type): * Post-Game: Rayquaza is far too powerful for Sableye's meager Special Defense. It stands a good chance of OHKOing your gem ghost. }} Moves The lowest-level Sableye you could catch would be Level 9, and would know Scratch, Leer, Foresight, and Night Shade. You'll get a lot of mileage out of Night Shade, as both a good way to whittle down potential catches' HP and a means of dealing damage to foes. The next move it learns is Astonish '''at Level 13, which is extremely weak; it still benefits from having STAB and a flinch chance, though. Skip '''Fury Swipes at Level 17; it's weak and inaccurate. Fake Out (Level 21) is a keeper; priority and guaranteed to make the opponent flinch? Yes please! Detect (Level 25) is also fairly useful, but nothing earth-shattering due to its low PP. Faint Attack '''(Level 29) is a much-needed upgrade in power over Astonish, but it runs off Sableye's weaker Special Attack stat. '''Knock Off is stupidly weak for a move learned at Level 33, but if you really want to remove a Gym Leader's ace's Sitrus Berry knock yourself out I guess. Level 37 brings you Confuse Ray, which is a pretty good disruptive attack, but doesn't do much to alleviate Sableye's struggles to keep up with opponents' increasing power. The best move Sableye learns by leveling up is Shadow Ball at Level 41, and it absolutely needs it to stand a chance in the late game. The fact that it learns the move by level-up is also great on its own, because Shadow Ball is a one-off TM. Sableye's last level-up move is Mean Look (Level 45), which you should never waste a move slot on. Sableye gets several interesting moves by TM, but most of them, like Psychic '''and '''Shock Wave are highly-sought-after one-off machines and run off its weaker Special Attack. One possible remedy to that situation is to teach it Calm Mind after defeating Tate and Liza; this move also has the benefit of shoring up its weaker defensive stat while making it better able to use its full movepool. Unfortunately, it isn't able to maximize the move thanks to its lack of recovery outside of Rest and Egg moves. Toxic is a potential workaround for Sableye's low damage output, but it isn't really bulky enough to pull off a full stall strategy, even with Detect or Protect. Brick Break, Dig, and Aerial Ace are all one-off physical moves that Sableye could make use of in specific matchups, but given that TMs aren't reusable this is probably a poor strategy (with the possible exception of Brick Break, which has several good applications in the late game). Recommended movesets: # Fake Out, Shadow Ball, Protect/Detect/Confuse Ray/Toxic, Brick Break/Dig/Aerial Ace # Calm Mind, Faint Attack, Psychic, Fake Out/Toxic/Shock Wave/Rest Recommended Teammates * Fighting types: 'Sableye's STAB combination and generally low damage output mean that it struggles against Dark types and Steel types. Fighting type moves are super effective against both of those problem opponents, so Sableye has great synergy with Fighting types. ** ''Good examples of this kind of Pokemon include: Blaziken, Hariyama, and Breloom. * 'Strong tanks: '''Sableye's main weak points are its low defenses and below-average damage output. Therefore, it will benefit from being on a team with strong tanks that can sponge the hits it can't and break through the bulkier opponents it can't. ** ''Good examples of this kind of Pokemon include: Swampert, Gyarados, Golem, Muk, Grumpig, and Milotic. Other Sableye's stats * '''What Nature do I want? '''The ideal Nature for Sableye is one that boosts Attack, since its movepool leaves it wanting for a bit more power in the mid-to-late game. You don't really want to drop its Special Attack, because it depends on Dark type moves for damage for quite a while in the early mid-game. So, things like Brave, Lonely, and Naughty are probably the best. * '''How good is Sableye in a Nuzlocke? '''It has several useful applications, but it doesn't dominate entire boss fights, with the notable exception of Brawly. With the proper team support, it can make valuable contributions to a Nuzlocker's team. * '''Weaknesses: None * Resistances: Poison * Immunities: Normal, Fighting, Psychic * Neutralities: Flying, Ground, Rock, Bug, Ghost, Steel, Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Ice, Dragon, Dark Category:Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald